Warwick would loose $67,077 in AIM funds from governor's budget proposal

By Roger Gavan
WARWICK — Governor Andrew Cuomo's state budget proposal would eliminate the long-standing Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) for 75 towns and villages, but not cities, in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties.
Under this plan, the Town of Warwick, which has a total budget of approximately $16 million, would loose $67,077.
And, according to the New York State Division of the Budget, the three villages within the Town would loose AIM funding as follows:
• Florida: $10,927;
• Greenwood Lake: $12,733; and
• Warwick: $28,312.
"This is another example of Governor Cuomo's disdain for local government," said Town of Warwick Supervisor Michael Sweeton. "His administration continues to reduce funding for towns and villages while imposing crippling mandates on us. We have strongly stated our opposition to these cuts to our newly elected Senator Metzger and Assemblyman Brabenec urging them to fight for us to overturn this injustice."
Many upstate towns and villages rely on this funding to provide essential services to residents at the local level. Although it's not a huge sum, Warwick will have to make up for that loss in revenue.
AIM funding has not been increased since the 2008-09 fiscal year, and unfunded mandates handed down by Albany continue to consume 99 cents of every dollar local governments raise through the property tax levy.
'Disastrous repercussions'"These cuts would have disastrous repercussions for our towns and villages and hinder their ability to provide efficient services, maintain benefits for employees and respond effectively to crises like snow storms, power outages and infrastructure failures," said Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, who represents the 98th District, which includes Warwick. "Between struggling to stay within the two percent tax cap and paying for unfunded Albany mandates like Medicaid, towns and villages may be forced to either raise taxes or significantly slash their services - neither of which we want to see. I vehemently oppose these cuts and will work diligently to see them restored in this year's enacted budget."
Balancing essential services without over-burdening taxpayersNewly elected State Senator Jen Metzger, who represents the 42nd Senate District, which includes Warwick, agrees.
"As a former town councilwoman and deputy supervisor, "she said, "I know first hand the budgetary constraints under which local governments in rural communities operate, and the challenges of balancing the need to provide essential services to the community without over-burdening taxpayers.
"Last week, I reached out to town supervisors and village mayors across the 42nd District to let them know that I oppose the proposed cuts to AIM," the Democrat added. "And as a member of the State Senate's Committee on Local Government, I will be pressing for inclusion of these funds in the 2019-2020 budget."
With support from both sides of the aisle, it appears the funds could be restored.
"We expect our State Legislators to restore this funding," said Justin Rodriguez, the Assistant to the County Executive for Communications. "However, what we really need though is real mandate relief. Orange County property taxpayers are forced to spend millions of dollars based on mandates coming out of Albany. We need our State Legislators, particularly those in the majority party, to produce real results for taxpayers, not just simply stop bad proposals such as this one from becoming law."
Response from state Division of BudgetThe governor's office forwarded a request for a statement to the New York State Division of the Budget.
"This proposal," said DOB spokesperson Morris Peters, "impacts towns and villages for which AIM represents less than two percent of their budget. For the Town of Warwick, AIM represents about one quarter of one percent. The (state) budget also includes $225 million to match local government savings through the shared services program and $390 million in new local sales tax revenues by eliminating the Internet tax advantage."